Nightlight
by purpletheory
Summary: Tony is sent after the Hulk when Nick Fury makes it obvious that he has no choice. He doesn't understand the doctor, but maybe he is about to get a chance.


**A/N: I really like them. I like Tumbler them so you should like them too. Here is my little contribution to a wonderful ship!**

**Read and REVIEW my lovelies. **

**~PT**

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><p><strong>Nightlight<strong>

Tony brushed at some of the rubble that was stuck between the joint made of knotted metal at his elbow. He was glad that he made a robot that's sole job was to clean his suit of armor because the task would be grueling manually. All he wished for was a hot bath and a good night's sleep. The Iron Man had been up for more than thirty-six hours and he felt deserving of some rest. Grumbling he picked himself up from the crater that had been created by the force of his own body being thrown against the ground and huffed as his muscles protested. Just because he had a suit of metal armor protecting him, did not mean that he couldn't feel the impact of a huge green monster throwing him several thousand feet in the air, simultaneously breaking his fuel pack upon releasing him. Fury had another thing coming when he got back to headquarters. He did NOT want to be on Hulk detail ever again.

According to their fearless, one-eyed leader, the temperamental scientist had gone missing from his little lab where he worked in the Bronx. Tony had taken an interest in the man's brain but quickly shied away from friendship because of his tendency to throw him into large structures. He liked the idea of studying the man, but especially now, he wished he could do it from a safe distance. Tony had tracked the scientist to an area just outside of Dover and quickly found him using the tracking technology kindly, yet unknowingly supplied by the DNA Tony had extracted from the Hulk some weeks ago.

When he finally saw him, he stopped in his tracks. He had changed into civilian clothes to try and attract less attention and had snuck up on the Hulk's location, which oddly happened to be a flower shop. Dr. Banner had his hands full of flowers and he was walking from the door towards the busy street. But Tony only noticed his face. It was tight with some kind of emotion and his eyes glistened. Tony has never claimed to be an expert on emotions so he had no idea what the man was feeling but he looked both sad and furious at the same time, and his hands clenched the bundle of posies in his hands firmly. Tony didn't know what he had expected to find, but this sight wasn't part of anything he imagined. Whenever he pictured the man, he thought of his Hulk side, green and growling. But the man across the street looked normal, if a little lost. Ignoring his wary feeling of pity, Tony strode from under the shop awning he had been using for cover and stepped into the street towards Bruce, who was still standing outside the flower shop looking from side to side. Striding right up to his quarry, he stuck a hand out to pull him out of the light foot traffic along the block.

Bruce stumbled and pulled sharply away, gasping.

"Well, well, if it isn't our resident scientist monster," Tony snarked in a low voice. Bruce stared at him for a few seconds, after regaining his balance and Tony would be lying if he weren't a little shaken by the intensity of his gaze. Bulling ahead, he continued, "You've had Fury squawking over in D.C. since you've been missing, where ya been, great green giant?"

Bruce narrowed his eyes and pulled a hand off his flowers but then simply turned on his heel and marched off. Surprised, Tony followed him, grabbing his elbow and was stunned when Bruce tore his arm out of his grip savagely and broke into a fast run. Tony quickly lost sight of him in the crowd. Tony sighed, he had hoped that the Doctor would agree to contact Fury and would go back home. As unexpected as this was, Tony was sure he could find him with the homemade tracker he had installed in his watch. He looked down only to see that it was missing. The doctor must have taken it off his wrist when he grabbed him! Tony snorted in frustration and tore off in the direction that Bruce had run in. The man would soon realize that he wasn't the only one with a temper problem. Tony stubbornly kept running before he realized that it was futile as his agile prey had a much better start than he. He went back to the park where he had hidden his suit in a tree and quickly strapped himself in. Waving to a group of elementary school kids who sat motionless with their mouths hanging open, the Iron Man sped up to regulation height then started the program for the tracker with a sharp command to Jarvis. The blinking blue indicator showed that his target was still on the move. He flew down to helicopter height and began following the mark. By the time he hovered over his quarry, the mark had stopped and he found himself above a rundown old cemetery. Without thinking further he darted down and plummeted to the ground in front of the doctor. His suit made a loud clanging sound and he realized he had landed on cement that immediately cracked beneath his weight and the force of his descent. Bruce looked surprised but then he looked absolutely furious.

"Leave me alone!" He shouted, his fist no longer containing flowers.

"Well tell someone before you take a vacation and I wouldn't have to babysit!"

Bruce clenched his jaw and looked away and down. Tony glared at him before looked in the direction the doctor was looking. A gravestone poked out of the grass beside them, a fresh bouquet of flowers lying in front of it.

"You can pay respects to your scientific career after you get an official leave."

Tony knew as soon as the words left his mouth that he had gone too far.

Bruce's head whipped up and his eyes lit with fire. He growled and just like that he began to grow right in front of his eyes. The loose nondescript shirt that he had been wearing torn to shreds as his muscles expanded. Tony had always been in awe of the Hulk even before he had seen him. Now was no different than the time the Dr. Banner had first transformed in front of him during the alien battle. Tony stood amazed as Bruce Banner went from several inches shorter than he to an amazing eight or nine feet tall. Before he could even think of running, he was staring into the face of a snarling, growling green monster. It was those eyes that finally got him, green with brown at the very center. He stepped backwards then engaged his fuel packs and shot upwards in the air, but not quickly enough. The Hulk grabbed his foot and threw him into the cement in front of him roaring as he came crashing down. Tony tried a command to Jarvis but just as he started, the giant green man took a hold of him in one great fist.

"Sir, we have reached criti-uhhhhlll-" Jarvis began but his normally pleasant voice distorted and silenced as the hulk squeezed the red and gold suit. Tony felt the metal contract around him under the pressure. Just as he thought that the rage monster would crush him to death, the hulk stopped squeezing, his face melding into something akin to disapproval and he said in a deep gravelly tone, "Little tin man leave Hulk alone." And with that he hefted the iron man suit, drew back and threw him into the air.

In order to get anything done about this 'developing' monster man hunt, tony would have to get back to his tower and get his back up suit. He walked slowly to the perimeter of the parking lot and looked around at his surroundings. He was in a Denny's lot far from that little flower shop that he had first encountered Bruce. He was miles and miles away from his home and he couldn't call Pepper even if he wanted to. Jarvis was unresponsive, his suit mangled as it was.

He cringed thinking of Pep- _Mrs._Potts. Their last encounter had left the redhead storming from his presence, with a suitcase in hand yelling that Tony wasn't even allowed to use her first name anymore because they were strangers. Tony began walking towards were he thought the center of town was, his suit creaking and breaking off at each step.

He had been distant from her for months. It wasn't her at all and Tony knew he was being unfair to her but he couldn't stop his behavior. She couldn't stay with him because he had frequent night terrors and she said that she would never get any sleep or work done the next day if she stayed in the same room with him. Ever since that night that left Tony watching her leave his bed for the last time and leaving him alone, she had been mad that he couldn't control his behavior at night. He had tried to control himself and even when he succeeded she would still complain about how his arc reactor shone too brightly and asked him to put a dark shirt on. When he refused to accommodate her... well that's when her concern for him took the backseat. He couldn't explain it, but after his sojourn into a space portal and seeing those alien forces with a backdrop of pure darkness, he felt wary about spending any time in the dark. He stopped covering his chest when the sun fell.

Tony felt a chill race down his spine at the thought of night descending, and he took a worried glance at the sky. It was getting late and dusk was falling quickly. He tried to step up his pace, but moaned in pain as he felt a new bruise on his calf and the whole left shin guard fell off. In an angry moment, he swept down and snatched the piece from the pavement and knelt in exhaustion.

"You completely deserve this."

Tony knew it was Bruce without having to look up from his defeat. Bruce had a quiet, low voice that was easy to miss but Tony remembered the tone's sometimes bright sarcasm from the hours spent in the flying lab trying to find Thor's stupid psycho brother and his magic crazy box.

"Yeah," was all he managed. He still looked down, not having the willpower to look up at the guy who should be yelling and going green once more.

Instead of another beat down, Tony saw a rough hand come into the cracked view from his mask. He looked up in surprise. The doctor held a slightly disapproving look on his face but still his proffered hand remained. Tony couldn't help think that the same face on the Hulk looked even more intimidating on the doctor's rugged features.

Tony stifled his tendency to put his foot in his mouth long enough for him to accept the help and creak to his feet. He stumbled and the shorter doctor stepped forward to help support his weight and keep him from falling.

"Thanks, Frank."

He saw a tired yet confused glance from Bruce and clarified as he removed his face plate, "Frankenstein! You know that other green monster?"

Tony almost winced at his instinct to insult as he saw the doctor look down and refrain from comment.

They began walking and Tony continued to ramble, "Well, actually that's not it. Frankenstein is the name of the inventor not the monster. I wonder what the fella's name is then? Maybe we should call him baby hulk or hulk thing one. Don't worry! You can be thing two, since he technically came before you."

Tony abruptly stopped talking and almost doubled over at the wrench in his stomach.

Bruce chuckled a little bit and Tony looked at him warily. Why wasn't he getting mad at his prodding? And while they were on the matter of questions, where were they walking?

Tony asked as much and Bruce just quietly sighed, "It's getting dark and even though you did deserve what you got from the big guy, I feel bad about you being all broken. We are going to my apartment here."

"Why do you have an apartment in New Jersey? This place is a shithole."

Bruce was quiet for some time. They finally came upon a nondescript building that seemed to be falling apart. Bruce directed them towards the entrance and fumbled with the electronic pass code box. When he was done punching in the four digits, the box came loose from the cracked drywall and hung by its wires. The metal gate clicked open and the doctor helped tony down the hall. He stopped at the second door down and jiggled the doorknob. When he found it locked, he jerked the handle upwards and shoved against the door with his shoulder. The door popped open and they stumbled inside. Tony raised an eyebrow as he practically fell onto the tattered couch.

"Breaking and entering? I thought this was yours."

Bruce carefully shut the door and made sure that it still locked, "I used to live here a long time ago. I made an agreement with the landlady. She lets me stay here if I ever need it because I helped cure her grandson of an auto immune disease a while back."

Tony was quiet at that, biting his tongue from mocking the prince charming-esque statement.

He began to painstakingly remove his armor. Bruce leaned against the counter-top and watched as Tony struggled.

It had been a long time since he had ever had to take off his armor manually and he longed for the secure, bright lab with all of his equipment. Hell, he even wished he had Dum-E. As he wrestled off his breastplate, Bruce turned towards the fridge and opened it. Tony peaked around to look, feeling his stomach rumble. He tugged off one of the iron boots, putting himself off balance and crashing into the coffee table. He lay amid the splintered piece of furniture and sighed. When he didn't get up, Bruce meandered over and looked down at him.

"You gonna be OK?"

"You did a number on my suit. It's almost stuck to me now from all the force you put on it. It's a little hard to get off," Tony huffed in irritation.

"That wasn't me."

Bruce walked down the hall, leaving Tony to gingerly get up and try to free himself from his metal prison alone. He succeeded in getting his upper half uncovered, and by now the tight spaced living area was covered in scraps of metal, parts, oil, and chips of paint. When he wrested off the thigh piece, he soon realized why his leg hurt so bad. An inner length of piping had become lodged in his thigh. He groaned and gritting his teeth, yanked it out of his flesh. Fresh blood gushed out to coat the already dried amount on his jeans.

Ten minutes later, he was finally free of what had been his most up to date pride and joy. He limped back to the couch and collapsed on it. He had just closed his eyes when he heard the familiar voice say, "Don't bleed all over my couch."

"Well _excuse_ me. Let me go bleed all over your bathroom."

Tony tiredly lurched up and hobbled to the bathroom, brushing past banner angrily.

He should have designed a better protection against intense force. He had lightened the material in favor of more speed but he should have taken into account the battles he got knocked around in. He would have to find a better compromise because this- This was NOT happening again. he stumbled to the sink and started the sink. When nothing sputtered out, he groaned in frustration and sank to the ground.

"You should take your pants off."

Tony cracked an eye to look at the man standing awkwardly in the doorway. Even in his exhausted state, he still managed to smirk and was about to snark about the doctor's intentions but didn't get any further as the man knelt down beside him and reached for his belt. Tony jerked a little in surprise, gasping out, "Not on the first date!"

Bruce chuckled his sad little laugh and looked up at Tony. The Iron Man gave a little smile in response to the genuine expression on Bruce's tired face. Bruce unbuckled his belt and was tugging down his jeans before Tony could make another comment. He hissed in pain as the material dragged across his wound. Bruce leaned over him to start the faucet in the bath and Tony breathed in the clean smell of his shirt. The doctor grabbed a towel and wet it down before lightly dabbing at the angry red opening in his leg. Tony watched him, his eyes half-lidded as the doctor lived up to his title and treated him. From somewhere behind the sink the man brought out a cursory first aid kit and before he could bat an eye, a needle was sewing up the punctured skin. Tony stiffened in pain but said nothing. When he was done, Bruce threw the towel into the sink and sat back opposite Tony.

Tony let his head fall back onto the cold wall behind him between the sink and the toilet and let his eyes fall shut. He could fall asleep in this crazy uncomfortable position he was so tired. He opened his eyes slowly when he heard rustling come from the other man. Bruce slumped against the wall and yawned.

"Well aren't we fun tonight."

Bruce gave a half-hearted smile and Tony began to try and get up.

He forgot about his pants situation and fell partly onto the doctor. For a moment he just let his forehead rest on the man's collarbone before getting all the way up. He wiggled out of the rest of his jeans and held a hand down to the man who sat with an unreadable expression in front of him. Bruce stared at him for several moments, but when Tony began to sway on his feet he accepted the hand and led the injured man out of the closet-sized bath. He let Tony into the only other room in the flat and Tony immediately got down on the dirty floor. He could barely keep his eyes open.

"Tony." When the man didn't answer, Bruce shook him by the shoulder lightly, "Tony!"

"Wha?"

"Come on, you can have the bed."

"M'okay," He mumbled and swayed upright again and fell onto the small twin sized bed. He heard Bruce laugh from what seemed like light years away. He twisted and grabbed a hold of the doctor. Bruce struggled wildly for a moment but then stopped when he realized that the witty man held him pretty closely.

Tony was barely registering what was happening at this point and he said in a whispered slur, "Les just sleep K?"

He never heard if Bruce answered because he fell right over the edge into unconsciousness.

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><p><strong>AN: I would love to continue this story so let me know if I'm doing a good thing and I'll see what I can come up with. I know the title doesn't make sense fully yet, but if you review I'll get to it ;)**

**Loves and hell fire or something.**

**~PT**


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